Building on the experimental participatory models of John Dewey (1930)
and Paulo Freire (1970), John Forester established a model 20 years after The
Good Society was published. Forester’s work continues to challenge the way
we conduct contemporary practice using methods with emphasis on words
such as expectation, success and outcome. Instead, Forester’s model focuses
on the complexity and messiness of human relationships to teach and guide
us. Forester builds on two models. The first is the Deweyan model of creating
and testing new learning through ongoing experimentation. The second
is the Freirean model of learning in a dialogue with emphasis on a growing
awareness of power. Forester’s model for learning ‘explores not only how
our arguments change in dialogues and negotiations but how we change as
well’. Central to this learning model is: